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Slow down and enjoy the journey…

This is so much easier said than done… but once you’ve mastered it … you’ll never look back! I promise!

There was a time in my life (pre flip top head 😂) where this statement could NEVER be applied to me! I wanted to sprint through life as fast as my (yes little… very little!!) legs would take me and breathing was often optional! I wanted everything to happen when I needed it to and I wanted schedule and structure to give me peace of mind.

Ironically – peace of mind is really not achieved that way.

Taking each day as it comes , as an offer of advice, can seem so trite and unhelpful… I know… I’ve had it delivered to me so many times and truthfully wanted to slap the person whose mouth it came out of! However – I have truly learned the meaning of this statement and can say with great confidence – it’s true.

We have to remember that the journey is just as important to our sense of achievement as the end result. Being pregnant vs the birth…. being a student vs getting your first job… starting a running programme for the first time vs achieving your first marathon… starting a business vs turning your first profit …or walking 50metres 2 days after a serious operation vs going to the gym 6 times a week.

If we allow ourselves the space to slow down and enjoy small progress steps, or sometimes none at all, we give our hearts and minds the chance to breathe and feel content. Content – how often do we let ourselves feel this!!! Nowhere near enough.

Content doesn’t have to mean euphoric, it doesn’t have to mean excited – it just needs to mean we are happy with just being and where we are.

I learned to do this after my operation as both my mind and body were too exhausted for large blocks of achievement – I had to learn to accept myself each day for where I had got to and what I had accomplished and be truly thankful for it. I felt content every day. I was in pain, I was exhausted beyond belief – but I was content.

I have held onto this feeling as much as possible. It slips from time to time – I’m only human, but I have learnt to cut myself some slack.

I’ve moved across the world to start life again from scratch and that has been a seriously difficult thing to do. Starting from scratch when you have lived and worked your entire adult life in another country means no one really knows you, you have no history and your achievements (at times) feel like they’ve been wiped off the planet. I’ve wanted everything to fall into place in a heartbeat (the pre-op me was screaming inside!) and really struggled at times… but it has taught me to savour each new chapter in the journey, slow down and take the good days with the bad.

I have learnt to expect a little bit less of myself if that makes sense – in a good way.

I believe we are often our own worst enemy and if we truly admitted it – would acknowledge that much of our pressures come from within, rather from anyone else. When I accepted this, I really did find a sense of peace I had never experienced before.

We set timelines on just about everything in our life and this is a huge mistake, in my opinion. There’s no rule book – finding a partner, getting married, having kids, buying a house, going travelling, starting a business, getting fit, running a marathon or a myriad of other things you might want to achieve.

Remember – the journey is as important to cherish as the end result. Sometimes the journey might take you down a different path, a better path that leads to something completely new and even more rewarding.